Sergio Perez of Mexico and Force India drives during day one of Formula One Winter Testing in Bahrain. (Photo: Getty Images)

Testing action resumed in Bahrain today with the first day of the third and final session of the winter. It’s the final chance for the teams to gain some knowledge before the cars hit the track in Australia in 15 days.

Overall times meant little today as no one approached the best laps recorded last week, but there was a familiar pattern as the Mercedes teams were at the top of the table, and the Renault teams at the bottom – both in terms of times and laps completed.

Dani Pedrosa of Spain and Repsol Honda Team heads down a straight during the MotoGP Tests in Sepang – Day Two. (Photo: Getty Images)

Dani Pedrosa ended the second day of February’s second Sepang test at the top of the pile, with track conditions somewhat better than on Wednesday.

In the continued absence of his injured World Champion teammate Marc Marquez, who will not return to testing before the season opener at Qatar, Pedrosa shoulders the responsibility in finalizing Repsol Honda’s preparations for the 2014 season. He stepped up to the plate late on Thursday with a 2:00.039 best effort as the track cooled in the early evening.

After topping the timesheet on the first day of the second Sepang preseason test on Wednesday GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista attributed his pace to a rear suspension update and a better feeling with the new Bridgestone tire option.

The Spanish rider was the main man as the second crucial Malaysian test got underway, taking advantage of the absence of injured MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez and some off color test performances from the likes of Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa – who all concluded the day outside the top four.